If you like to shop, there’s a good chance you’ve been to the store Forever 21. Known for “fast fashion,” Forever 21 has a wide variety of clothing of every style from which customers can choose. Many of the stores even have multiple floors of clothing. Their low prices attract many teenagers and young adults trying to shop on a budget. So it may come as a hard blow to teenage shoppers everywhere to hear Forever 21 is closing.

          Unfortunately, Forever 21 has received a lot of bad press lately due to a conflict with pop star Ariana Grande. Grande recently sued the company for $10M for using a look alike model in one of their advertisements. The singer claimed that her fans were confused by the ad, thinking it was her. 

The company also seems to be losing customers to online retailers, such as Fashion Nova, Missguided, and Lulus. Online retail is revolutionizing shopping, as people can now buy virtually anything from the comfort of their own homes.  Shopping online is more convenient and with so many young people having their own devices now, online stores can be easier to access than the mall. 

Filing for bankruptcy will give the company leverage to renegotiate rents and free itself of unprofitable stores. This move will also give the company a chance to regain financial stability, which was fading quickly as the company’s “coolness factor” slowly disappeared. 

The company’s clientele consists mostly of teenage girls, drawn in by the store’s low prices. Forever 21’s closing will force many young people to find new places to shop for inexpensive clothing. 

WHS junior Julia Neiva confirms the draw to inexpensive clothing at Forever 21, “I like that it’s cheap.” She adds “They have many options, it’s a big store.” 

Julia French, also a junior, comments “Forever 21 always had cute and pretty cheap clothes so it’s sad that an affordable option is being taken away.” 

However, not everyone feels this way. Junior Sylvana Soliman complains that “the store is always a mess.” However, she does admit that “there’s a lot of variety and the prices are really good compared to other stores.”

“The company’s specialty became known as fast fashion,” says Hailey Mensik of The LA Times. “The chain reportedly needs to shore up its finances just as its coolness factor is indeed ebbing and young consumers keep migrating to other retailers, especially online sellers.”

There is one thing for sure, Forever 21 is no longer forever.